


City Shopping

by SuccubustyKisses



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Cuddling, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 12:57:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuccubustyKisses/pseuds/SuccubustyKisses
Summary: Shiro chuckles, pulling his coat tighter around himself to block out the cold as he looks around the small grassland generously labeled a city park. He never would have guessed that sitting with two strangers on black Friday would lead him to where he is now.





	City Shopping

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of the Shklance holiday exchange written for Charlie! Del-phin on tumblr. 
> 
> I hope you like it!

Shiro grins, looking down at his phone to notice he made it to their meeting place fifteen minutes early. His inner voice smugly telling his friends to say he's always late now. Looking up at the large tree, happily decorated with twinkling lights and decorations hand-made by locals he felt a pang of warmth in his chest. 

Shiro loved Christmas, not just for the holiday lights and decorations, but because Shiro met his two best friends turned crushes one day while out Christmas shopping. It was a black Friday and he'd stopped in at a small, local café for a bite to eat, frowning when he found every table occupied. He remembers looking down at his tray of food then forlornly looking over the tables before a loud voice shouted at him. 

_”Hey beefcake! We have a spare seat over here! Come join us!”_

Shiro chuckles, pulling his coat tighter around himself to block out the cold as he looks around the small grassland generously labeled a city park. He never would have guessed that sitting with two strangers on black Friday would lead him to where he is now. 

His eyes focus in on a huddle of blue, sitting on a nearby bench and he frowns. No way did he actually get beat here, he was fifteen minutes early after all. He moves slowly closer to the ball of cold human, easily recognizing the cat ears on the hat pulled over soft brown curls. 

_Lance._

Moving through the park he flops down on the freezing bench next to his obviously shivering friend, startling blue eyes in to staring wide up at him. “Sh-Sh-Shiro you're early.”

Frowning Shiro unzips his coat, grabbing Lance and pulling him close to wrap the fabric around him, intent to warm the boy with his own body heat. If he also got cuddles from his crush in the meantime, who was he to complain. Lance melts into his chest, cold cheek pressing into the muscles as frozen fingers wind around his waist, gripping tight to his sweater. 

“Thanks. You're the b-best.” Lance's words puff against Shiro's chest causing him to instinctually pull the other man closer, practically yanking him onto his lap.

“What are you doing freezing out here Lance? How long have you been waiting for us?” Shiro smiles, despite his scolding, at the chance to bury his nose in the top of Lance's head, smelling his blueberry scented shampoo on his hat.

Lance hums to himself before finally speaking. “Since about four. I got off work early and didn't see the reason to go all the way back home just to come back.”

Shiro sighs, shaking his head a little. “You could have at least waited inside of a building.”

“I got excited?” Lance's words were high pitched, phrased to sound like a question as he snuggled further into Shiro's dwindling warmth. 

Before Shiro could come up with a reply another voice came up next to his ear. “Cozy, Shirogane?”

Jumping Shiro wraps his arms tighter around Lance before shooting a glare over his Shoulder at the laughing man there. Red earmuffs covered his ears, graced with their own cat ears that matched Lance's hat, both gifts from Shiro from last year's Christmas. Keith turned amused eyes down to Shiro, sparkling bright violet in the twinkling Christmas lights. 

Lance pushes away from Shiro’s chest, shooting his own glare at their friend. “What the fuck, Keith?”

Shrugging Keith comes around to the front of the bench. “I thought we were coming here to buy gifts, not have a cozy cuddle session. I would have worn a better coat.” 

Lance snorts at Keith's leather jacket pulling himself to his feet with a small smile. “Not my fault you left us here to freeze waiting for you.”

With a shake of his head Shiro pushes to his feet and wraps his arms around both men's shoulders, steering them down the sidewalk and towards the small café on the corner. The same one he met them at years ago. “Come on you two, we'll get something warm to drink first and give Lance time to warm up before we dive into shopping.”

Lance leans in closer to his side as they walk, “fine, but Keith has to pay.”

They make it into the café with ease and Keith shoos them into a booth to wait while he gets their drinks. Shiro slides in first and before he's even settled the icy press of Lance's nose is back into his neck, snuggling into his warmth. Squirming out of his coat he wraps it around Lance as Keith comes over placing their steaming drinks in front of them.

“Scoot over, I'll warm him from this side and then we can get out of here faster and get to shopping.” Lightly smacking at Lance Keith makes an annoying noise until Shiro scoots down to press against the wall pulling Lance along with him. 

Keith settles in, pressing tightly against Lance's side, his arm snaking around his waist to brush against Shiro’s hip as Shiro's own fingers brush against Keith’s soft hair. They all sit cuddled together, Lance going on about all the people he has to shop for while they sip their drinks. Keith finishes his drink first and rests his head on Lance's shoulder. Shiro can't resist but running his fingers through his soft hair, smiling at the pleased grunt the other makes. 

Shiro's crushes may never be more than that, but he's never been happier to spend time with anyone else.

* * *

Humming to himself at the happy tingly warmth flowing through his body Lance throws away his empty cup. Turning to Keith and Shiro he sends them both a wide grin, bouncing on his toes with excitement. 

“You know it’s just shopping right? You don’t have to be so excited.” Keith shoots Lance a fake annoyed look, the tilt at the corner of his mouth giving him away. 

With a chuckle Shiro moves over wrapping an arm around Keith and pulling him out the door into the cold winter air. “Come on now Keith, don’t be grumpy I know you were excited for our annual shopping trip too.”

Following them out Lance stuffs his hands into his coat pockets, watching the two with a soft, envious smile. _They're perfect, and perfect together._ His eyes trace along their bodies, pressed together with Shiro's arm still wrapped around Keith's shoulder. _God I wish that were me._

Shaking off his affection and envy he skips forward, moving ahead of the two to walk backward sending them a grin. “Come on slow pokes! We've got a lot of shopping to do and only one night to do it!”

“It's only the 8th Lance. We have almost 2 weeks!” Keith frowns but Lance only laughs, turning to scurry towards their first stop. 

Moving excitedly through the small store Lance touches almost everything, picking things up, flipping them over, pulling cords and pushing buttons and making the small toy shop loud with noises. With a gleeful sound he dumps a singing hippopotamus into their basket, currently being held by Keith, and looking at the pile of stuff within. 

A frown overtakes his smile as he looks over the contents again, counting out all of his stuff and one item he saw Shiro looking at. “You keep glaring at the basket you’re going to get wrinkles. What’s wrong, Lance?”

Before he can even think his irritation through Lance is standing, waving over his shoulder as he heads for the register to pay. “Oh nothing, just wondering why you even bother to come.”

“Excuse me?” Keith stops following Lance, his look of shock quickly morphing to one of annoyance. 

Lance shrugs, taking the basket and standing in the line. “I’m just saying you aren’t even pretending to look around so what’s the point? Why bother coming if you're just going to brood around and not even try to shop for anyone?”

“Lance, we're only at the-“

“No Shiro, I get it. I can see when I'm not actually wanted. I'll just finish my own shopping alone, it's a lot quieter then.” Turning Keith heads for the door.

“Keith wai-“ Shiro reaches for Keith but quickly has his hand slapped away. Before Lance's mind can catch up with what just happened Keith is out the door and lost in the crowd. 

Swallowing down feelings of guilt and heartache Lance spins around to the register slamming the basket on the counter. Cringing and apologizing Lance ignores his feelings in order to pay for the gifts he picked out, as well as the one item Shiro had in the basket.

“Lance-“ a warm hand presses to his shoulder and Lance sniffles, feeling warm tears fighting to escape his eyes. 

“I know Shiro.” Lance wipes at his eyes taking his bag and looking up at Shiro's worried gaze. “I wanna make one more stop then lets find Keith. I owe him a big apology.”

“Lance, I think we should go find Keith first.” Shiro's frown creases his brow as he glances over at the door.

Lance sighs. “You’re right. You go find Keith and I'll run this quick errand and find both of you. Walking backwards Lance shoots Shiro a quick wink. “Don’t let him leave the street.”

Ignoring Shiro's shouts after him Lance turns and dashes down the street, weaving through the crowds of shoppers to his destination on the other end of the street. Panting in painful puffs of cold air Lance steps through the door into the comfortable warmth of the store. With a deep breath he smelled the sweet scent of candy all around him. 

It only took him a minute to find what he was looking for and start piling it into a bag, uncaring for how much it weighed and more determined to get the most he could in the small clear bag. Scurrying to the register he almost trips over a child, scrambling not to lose any of his chocolates. 

Taking pity on him the associate behind the counter pulls out a box, dumping Lance's purchase inside and quickly organizing them to look good. She weighs it up before tying it off with a red bow and taking Lance's money. 

Before he can even thank the woman properly Lance is out the door, box held tightly against his chest as he runs down the street checking every store for Keith. His eyes settle on a flash of white settled in dark hair and he exhales a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when he saw Keith standing with Shiro, arms crossed and leaning against a phone pole. 

Grinning Lance dashes across the street, nearly colliding with a stopped car. When he reaches the others he skids to a stop flinging both hands out with the box gripped tightly in his fingers, nearly jamming it into Keith's face. “Here.”

Confused Keith takes the box, eyes flicking from it, up to Lance, then down at it again. “What’s this?”

“I owe you a huge apology, Keith. Bigger than words can cover. What I said was rude and it came off completely different than I meant. I wouldn’t want to do this without you, Keith. Not ever.” Lance tries not to fidget as he apologizes, but his hands wring at the bottom of his coat anyways. 

Smiling softly Keith undoes the bow and looks into the box, giving a pleased noise at the chocolates he finds within. “Lance this must have cost you a fortune! That place charges by the pound!”

“No cost is too much if it makes you smile.” Lance looks up, he can feel his cheeks darkening as he watches Keith's own blush, his mouth opening and closing silently. 

Warmth presses into his side, startling him as his eyes widen and look up at Shiro. “How about we continue this discussion over dinner. The smell of pizza is killing me, I've gotta get a piece… or five.”

Keith grins, tucking himself under Shiro's outstretched arm as he clutches the box to his chest. “Pizza sounds great.”

* * *

They were seated quickly in the small pizza parlor, Keith's mouth watering at the heavenly aroma filling the air as Shiro pulls him along with a loose grip on his hand. The hostess smiles when she stops at the U shaped booth in the corner, looking at their joined hands and seeming pleased with her choice. “Will this be good for you?”

“It's perfect.” Lance grins, sliding into the booth and waving for the others to follow. His hands flailing when Shiro steps forward first. “No no Shiro, Keith goes in the middle that way we can make sure he doesn’t run off again.”  
Rolling his eyes Keith slides into the booth, not even given time to adjust or remove his coat before Lance is pressing against him. “I didn’t run off. I walked.” 

Chuckling Shiro slides into the booth after him, giving no less room than Lance does. The hostess gives them a bright grin, takes their drink orders and leaves with a happy bounce in her step. Keith shakes his head watching her go, some people get excited by the strangest things. 

Shoving at Lance playfully Keith gets just enough room to wrangle his coat off, carefully placing the small bag in his pocket on the table with his chocolates, eyeing the box and contemplating snatching one up before he's distracted again. 

Long fingers wrap around the handle of his bag, pulling it across the table towards Lance. “What’s this? You actually did buy something?” 

Keith practically screeches a war cry as he lunges, nearly shoving Lance out lf the booth as he snatches the bag away, holding it tight against his chest as he stares wide eyed at Lance's shocked expression. Before he can even open his mouth to speak his mind Lance's wide eyes have narrowed, the O of his mouth turning up into a knowing grin. “No, Lance!”

“Aw, come on Keith, I just wanna take a peek. I'm curious you know.” Lance scoots slowly closer, arm wrapping around Keith's waist as he presses his nose into his chest, taking a deep breath before finally looking up at Keith. “Please, Keith.”

Keith stares, heart beating a mile a minute in his chest as he looks down into wide blue eyes. He always had a weakness for Lance's puppy dog eyes. Hell, he always had a weakness for Lance. Shiro just made his weaknesses worse because now he had to fight off his affection for two people. 

Opening his mouth to protest all that escapes him is a high pitched squeak. Sighing in defeat Keith slumps down, reaching into the bag, rolling his eyes as Lance gives a whoop of victory and pushes up ever so slightly to try to peek in the bag. His fingers wrap around one of the small boxes, tugging it out and looking at the purple ribbon before handing it over to Shiro. 

It only takes him a second longer to get the other box out, identical to the first except for the blue ribbon wrapped around it. “I was going to wait until Christmas to give these to you, but I guess it won’t hurt to give them to you now.”

Shiro's smile is soft as he looks down at the small rectangle package in his hands. “Are you sure, Keith? We can wait unti-“

“Screw waiting! I want my gift!” Keith laughs as his eyes move over to Lance, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement as he yanks at the ribbon fighting with the knot he causes in his impatience to get to his prize. With a satisfied shout Lance gets the ribbon off and yanks the box open, eyes widening as he looks at the contents. 

Swallowing down his nerves Keith looks over to Shiro who holds up the bracelet, thumb running over the blue, red, and black colors. His cheeks flush slightly as his thumb rubs over the golden charm, looking like the symbol of Pi on the braided string. “Keith, is this-“

“Look, I know we've been doing this trip every year since before we even drug you into our group, Shiro. Just like I know we practically live together with how much we see each other.” Keith takes a deep breath, looking down at his hands before he continues. “I know this is just a normal shopping trip for us. But, I'd much rather admit to my feelings and finally get to call it a date.” 

“YES!” Lance's arms wrap around Keith's neck, yanking him sideways into his chest with an excited bounce. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, and a million times yes!” 

Warm lips press soft, quick kisses on Keith's forehead and cheek, Lance's excitement contagious as he pulls a grin out of Keith when his lips press into the corner of his mouth. Warmth wraps around his waist, a body pressing into his back as a still-slightly cold nose presses into his neck just behind his ear. 

Letting out a content sigh Keith practically melts into the affections, startling when the waitress arrives and places their drinks in front of them. “I hate to interrupt but you guys are going to give our hostess a cuteness aneurism. Plus, I can't get you a pizza if you don’t actually order. 

Letting out a bark of laughter the three pull apart, but just barely, Lance sending an excited wave across the restaurant to the hostess who watches them with a huge grin. Shiro orders for them as Keith helps Lance tie the bracelet around his wrist, placing a soft kiss on his pulse point before turning to do the same for Shiro. 

It was cold, and overcrowded, and the streets were full of angry people spending way too much on gifts for people they probably didn’t even care about. But inside that pizza place, with Lance snuggled into his shoulder and Shiro's arm wrapped around his back keeping him pressed close, Keith was warm. His heart was full and he was happy. 

Christmas finally brought him the one thing he'd always wished for growing up. A family to call his own.

**Author's Note:**

> As always if you'd like to see more from me (mostly shitpost reblogs) you can find me on tumblr and pillowfort under SuccubustyKisses and twitter under SuccubustyKiss.
> 
> Your comments and Kudos fuel me!


End file.
